Hi everyone! I'm new here checking out the posts to see where I belong! My husband and I have been through 3 IUI's and and now saving the money for ICSI, which hopefully we can do by mid-summer. I joined looking to provide and receive some emotional support through this journey. There are no in person support groups in my area that I can find and it's a difficult subject to seek out support.

I hope I can be of some help and get some help through this process!
Cheers!

My husband and I are going through our first IVF with ICSI right now. I just started taking lupron on 1/17 and start stim medications tomorrow.

I totally understand what you are going through, especially through the planning process. We've been saving up since last April and are just starting now. It seems like it will take forever, but it will come before you know it!

Is ICSI expensive? They had to do ICSI with my first IVF as an emergency. We are unexplained infertility, but my RE said that the motility was not high enough on the day of IVF. Now they are planning to possibly do it again for the 2nd IVF. I guess I am one of the lucky ppl whose INS covers a good portion of this. Good luck!

It really depends on where you live and what facility you are going to. For us, the ICSI specific treatment is only about $1000. However, because my husband has a no sperm level, in order to extract the sperm, he will have a testicular biopsy, which is a surgery. Therefore, the actual surgery is also about $3000, because it's not covered by insurance for us.

Is this a similar path you will go through? will your husband have a testicular biopsy?

No, my husband does not need a biopsy (Thank God), because he would probably quit. His sperm count was extremely high when we did the initial testing and the 3 IUI's. He just suddenly had low motility when we did the IVF, so they had to do an emergency ICSI. Now they did a pre-treatment with our insurance in case they need to do it again for this IVF. Good Luck!

Hi, everyone. I am new here. My husband and I are just about ready to begin our first IVF. We have been trying for 4 1/2 years and have been pregnant twice only to miscarry. We have older children by previous marriages and are dealing with secondary infertility. I don't know anyone who has ever been through IVF and am looking for someone to talk intelligently about this very complicated process.

I am pretty new here as well. I have had 3 failed IUI's and 1 failed IVF in January. My next IVF will be in a couple of weeks. When do you start meds? It's crazy and I learn new things every day. I have learned a lot from reading stories on this board. Good luck with your IVF....I hope it works on the first try. If mine doesn't I may quit or at least take a few months off.

I am waiting for my period to start - how ironic that I have been wishing I wouldn't have a period for years and now I just wish it would hurry up. Anyway, when I start, I have to call the clinic for instructions which will include all of the dates for BUS and meds, etc. I think I should start meds about Valentines Day and our transfer should be around the end of February. It's all very hard to understand. You know, I was taught to believe that it just takes once to get pregnant. Ha! What a joke! I can't imagine having gone through all of this repeatedly. You ladies doing the encore performance are to be commended for sure!

Ya like being on the pill for years and paying $25 a month for it! What a waste of money! The biggest pain about all this for me was not the 3 shots a night I had to do in my stomach (cuz meds were so high), but driving to the clinic every 3 days for a 10 minute blood/ultrasound appointment. The clinic is a 45 min ride each way and I have to go at 6AM so I am not late for work. It's freezing out and I hate driving in the snow lol. Then I feel like all that for nothing, since it has not worked yet. I have been doing this all back to back every month since September. I do have a friend who did IVF and it worked on the first try for her. I had it in my head that since we had no issues and were unexplained infertility, that it would work on the 1st try for me also.
Everything gets alot easier to understand once you start the process. They just mail you the meds and want you to watch a video to learn how to inject yourself...lol. I used to make my husband do it and then I realized I can do it myself with a lot less pain! Have you done any IUI's?

I'm in BC, Canada. ICSI here costs about 10,000 including meds which thankfully are mostly covered through my insurance. Unfortunately procedures aren't covered however we can claim it on taxes as a medical expense (which won't amount to very much). The costs are crazy, but it's our plan A...well plan B now since IUI has not worked. DH has low counts/motility ect so this appears to be the only option with any hope. Plan C will be adoption, however the costs for adoption are also up there!

It's nice to have an outlet like this to share some of my frustrations and anxiety!

That sucks! No wonder you had to save up for it! I don't think I would be able to do any of this if my insurance didn't cover most of it! I have a $35 co-pay once in a while plus the copay for meds. This cycle was $150 but I got 7 Gonal-F pens, etc. I don't know what I will do if this doesn't work! I thought about adoption, or maybe I will just forget the whole thing and give up. I really hope I get some freezable embryos this time because I don't ever want to do the ER again. I need to go get a heating pad soon! If you don't have one, get one before. The nurse suggested it but of course I did not get one. After the ER my husband went to get one at some local stores but could not find one (it was snowing so I didn't want him to go nuts looking). He got me the stick on kind that people use for muscle aches. I guess they were better than nothing. Keep me posted on when you start your stims. I wish it were March already and we both already knew the outcome!